VDMA Food Processing and Packaging Machinery Association has published a fully revised edition of its Document No. 05, titled “Product interface and associated signal exchange for aseptic filling machines”, updating its recommendations for signal exchange within aseptic packaging systems.
Issued by the association’s Packaging Machinery Division, the document addresses a critical but often underestimated risk in aseptic production environments: malfunctioning signal exchange between subsystems. According to the association, “Malfunctions in the signal exchange between the individual subsystems of an aseptic system are a possible cause of non-sterility.”
To mitigate this risk, the revised guidance calls for clearly defined subsystem boundaries and precisely specified signals between them. The document provides recommendations on the minimum requirements for signal exchange between product-carrying components in an aseptic system, focusing exclusively on functions that are relevant to food safety.
The framework described is based on two core subsystems — a sterile tank and a filling machine — each equipped with its own control system and an integrated or assigned cleaning-in-place (CIP) system. One or more filling machines may be installed on a product line. The association notes that the described signal exchange concept can also be transferred to other components, such as between the heating system and the sterile tank.
Importantly, the publication does not address signal exchanges related solely to mechanical functions, downstream equipment, or efficiency-enhancing elements. Its scope remains strictly limited to signals required for the safe operation of aseptic filling machines.
The revised document was developed by the VDMA working group “Interface problems in aseptic plants.” By making the new edition available for free download in both German and English, the association aims to support clearer interface definition and reduce sterility risks in increasingly complex aseptic packaging lines.
For machine builders, system integrators and food producers operating aseptic systems, the update provides a structured reference framework at a time when modular line architectures and distributed control systems are becoming standard across beverage and liquid food packaging applications.
